The current description relates to audio and video devices, and in particular to viewing and controlling audio and video content in a home network.
The entertainment experience of the home has become ever more networked, with multiple content sources and multiple devices capable of displaying the content. For example, a home may have cable and/or satellite television received using a set-top-box (STB) connected to a large screen television. Over-the-top (OTT) services such as Netflix, Hulu Plus and others may be received from a separate device, such as an OTT STB, game console or computer connected to the same TV or a second TV in a separate room. Value-added services such as cloud gaming, video conference calls, video surveillance and etc. delivered to either one or both TVs, as well as various video content may be accessed by one or more computing devices, such as phones, tablets, laptops or computers over a home network.
Each of the content providing and/or consuming devices may provide their own user interface for interacting with the audio/video content. As a result, the functionality, ease of use, user interface (UI), and the overall user experience (e.g. video resolution such as standard definition, high definition and ultra high definition) may differ across the devices. The different UIs complicate sharing of the different services and content across different devices. For example, a user may need to learn different UIs and input devices in order to navigate through the content provided by the various devices. Further, the UIs provided by the different content providers may not be adapted for display on all possible devices, that is, a UI that may be appropriate for display on a large screen TV may not be appropriate for use on a much smaller phone screen.